


Hide and Seek

by philomel



Category: Supernatural
Genre: Coda, Gen, Horror
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2010-11-01
Updated: 2010-11-01
Packaged: 2017-10-25 17:21:53
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,128
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/272843
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/philomel/pseuds/philomel
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p><i>Jesse is bored. He makes some friends. (Literally.)</i></p><p><span class="small">Spoilers: Nothing past "I Believe The Children Are Our Future."</span></p>
            </blockquote>





	Hide and Seek

Today, Jesse Turner tamed the waves, piggybacked on a kangaroo and ate so many hot dogs, he's fit to burst. But kangaroos aren't friendly, and buck too much when he rides them. And the ocean overpowers him, slaps and shoves him onto the beach when he loses focus for a second.

He kicks at his boogie board and clutches his stomach. His mother always told him to wait a while after eating before going into the water; he should have listened.

The pang in his gut is more than just digesting meat.

He's lonely.

He wants to go home. But the demons might be there, waiting for him. Mom and Dad are better off without him. If he believes it hard enough, they might just be.

In Australia, he's invisible because he made himself that way after a police officer tried to pull him off the beach where he was sleeping. The way she leaned over him, all shadowy, he couldn't see her face but thought for a moment that her eyes were black. They weren't, but she was going to take him away, so he made himself go away instead. Now, she's gone and he's alone.

Dean and Sam said he could do whatever he wants, that the choices are his to make. Right now, he just wants a friend.

Jesse doesn't know what makes up a friend.

He knows about sugar and spice and everything nice, that that's what little girls are made of. All he has is sand. But that's close, right? Sugar and spice are grainy like sand, and the beach is pretty nice. He looks at the ground in front of him, squints hard. The sand curls slowly like a wave, up and up until it's as tall as him. It splits at the bottom, then forks at the top. It looks like a giant starfish, but it's missing something. _Oh_ , he thinks, and scoops up a fistful of sand and tosses it underhanded, quick, before it spills out between his fingers. It stays balled up, but bobbles around and around for a bit, lolling neckless on the shoulders of his sand-friend.

"I'll call you Sandy," he says. And Sandy nods heavily forward and back, grains of sand falling away until there are two holes going straight through the top, like eyes.

"The better to see you with," he says, smiling brightly.

Another hole opens below Sandy's eyes. The wind goes through it, making a high, shrill wheeze.

He takes her hand, which is rough like a cat's tongue, and wet, too, from the surf. "Come on," he says, and guides her up the beach.

They walk together for a long time until they near the tree line of the woods. The sand beneath his feet has changed to mud and he sinks into it with each step until he remembers he doesn't have to, and the ground goes solid.

Jesse tells Sandy, "Let's look for snips and snails and puppy dogs' tails." He lets go of her hand, watching her totter off, the same from behind as she is from the front. It makes her look like she's walking backwards, watching him.

First, he finds a snail. Or a slug, but it's slimy and almost the same, only without a shell. It has a funny little red triangle on its back. Next, he looks for a snip, but he doesn't know what that is. He finds a beer can, dozens of rocks, five beetles and one snake. Snake starts with the same two letters, so he thinks that will do. The snake is small and slithery and hard to hold onto until he tells it to stay still and it does. It's mostly black but its belly is red. Its skin is dry, not at all like he expected, but not as dry as Sandy's skin when she taps him on the shoulder.

When he turns around, her sand-hand is outstretched toward him. In her fingerless mitt is a small hook-shaped thing, barely bigger than the slug. It's brown in the middle, white at its pointy tip and shiny red at the widest end. Underneath it, Sandy's hand is stained red too.

The tail twitches. Or maybe, Jesse thinks, it's just the shifting of sand in her palm.

He says, "Thanks." And the wind passes through Sandy's eyes and mouth, moaning low.

They put the snake and slug and puppy dog tail on the ground and, before they can crawl away, Jesse concentrates with all his might. The slug's skin starts to bubble and blister. One by one by one, the blisters pop and little slugs squirm out and climb on top of each other. Two writhing piles form higher and higher until they are waist high. Then they meet in the middle, slugs twining with each other in twisting knots of fleshy grey. More slugs divide and subdivide and link together until there's a torso and one arm and another and then a lumpy mass that grows and grows out of the top center. When it's just an inch taller than Sandy, it stops.

The snake sticks its tongue out and curls it around the puppy dog tail. With the tail in tow, it slip-slides up one slug-leg. Then it disappears into the bloated bodies, comes back out, goes back in, back and forth, around and around, and up and up until it shimmies and sinks into the head. Jesse doesn't see the snake again, but slowly, slowly in the waning light he can make out the two bead-black eyes, so far apart, almost on either side at the top of the head. Below the eyes, the slugs peel apart and his friend begins to pant hard, big, foamy drops of drool dripping down his canine teeth.

Jesse reaches up and pats him on his head. His hand comes away sticky, but he shakes it off. "I'll call you Max," he says.

Max shakes, a short, jerky motion that makes all the slugs quiver. Jesse realizes he's trying to wag his tail and barks out a laugh. That makes Sandy laugh, the wind ripping through her in rapid shrieks, pulling little pieces of sand off her as she howls with delight. Max howls too. And Sandy doubles over, collapses into a pile on the ground.

"Come on, silly," Jesse says, grabbing for her hand. His hand goes right through her, but then she's wrapping around him and he pulls her up.

"And you too." He holds out his other hand to Max, feeling five little slugs cling fast to his fingers.

The sun is setting and the woods are now dark. Back home, he'd have to go in now. But, here, Jesse has all the time in the world.

"Let's play."

**Author's Note:**

> Originally posted [here](http://community.livejournal.com/sharp_teeth/2807.html?thread=892407#t892407) as part of [](http://sharp_teeth.livejournal.com/profile)[**sharp_teeth**](http://sharp_teeth.livejournal.com/).


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